opinion
Draft system is
already waiting
The Selective Service has completed putting together
local "stand-by" draft boards in the likelihood that Congress
will authorize a military draft
It's a safe bet the draft will be reinstituted at some time in
the very near future — unless something is done now
All those who saw registration of draft-age individuals as
a major step toward the return of the draft should view the
"stand-by" draft boards as yet one more deliberate step
toward conscription The return of the draft is — in our view —
a cautiously orchestrated inevitability
The Selective Service's psychology appears to be to
move toward the draft with a series of feints They are keenly
aware of how the draft angers Americans who still vividly
recall the fiasco of the Vietnam era draft
The Selective Service rather than make one sweeping
reinstitution of the draft is feeding Americans an ill-tasting
medicine by drops
That ill-tasting medicine may cause more than just
stomach irritation, as those who remember how the Vietnam
era draft alienated the families of those who resisted It took
years to repair the damage done And then, instead of
amnesty, only a limited clemency was granted — branding
those who chose to resist the draft more criminal than
pacifist
When registration was authorized there was a general
outcry that it signaled the new draft That was two years ago
In the meantime Selective Service repeatedly reinforced
the notion that a registration of draft-age individuals was in
no way the return of full-scale conscription
The registration issue was given time to run its course
It's an unfortunate trait of the American people but issues
are argued vehemently at first, and thereafter ignored
The new draft boards are quite different from those of
the Vietnam era They will not be the major mechanism for
handling draftees The drafting will, in fact, be handled on a
national basis, far removed from the local boards
All drafting will be done by social security number at a
government computer center This totally anonymous —
numbers-only — system will probably happen before Orwell’s
predicted 1984
The local draft boards only contact with the draftees will
be to deal with appeals of classification or induction orders,
and for those claiming conscientious-objector status
It will be fair to say that the rights of a draftable individual
will be much better known in the white middle-class subur
ban areas The ghetto draftee will have little knowledge of the
procedures involved with appealing classification and ap
plying for conscientious-objector status The inequities are
built into the system.
If the draft is reinstituted, will it tear this country apart as
it did during the Vietnam era9 That possiblity has been taken
into account by Selective Service and is the motive behind
their carefully measured moves
Next month, a cabinet-level committee will meet to
re-evaluate the current registration policy The present rate
of compliance is 70 percent Some 134 names of persons
who have allegedly not registered have already been
referred to the U S Justice Department for possible pro
secution And that 70 percent figure is down from the 90
percent that registered in the first two rounds The decline
may be used to justify a reinstitution of the draft
The apparatus for the draft is all set-up — all that it
requires is for Congress to authorize And that may not be too
difficult to imagine with the decline of registrants and the
militaristic mood that's prevalent in the administration
The reinstitution of the draft reminds us of the French
saying — “The more things change, the more they remain the
same.”
letters policy
The Emerald will accept and attempt to print all letters
containing fair comment on issues ideas and topics of interest
to the University community
The letters must be limited to 250 words signed, and the
identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is
turned in to The Emerald offices EMU 300
The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length,
style or content Publication is dependent upon the space
available
GOODHtW SaWAKY WATT' -
JSfiSiMCREOlBiyWAurini
rja mmv vm
w WHAT A
cuMser" I -
Tmwybu
etters
Too far
It is becoming trendy these
days to suggest that state and
federal budget cutters have
gone too tar" in reducing
human service programs There
is, however, a simple and ob
vious local alternative to send
ing money to Washington or
Salem for human service
programs
Each of us has the personal
opportunity now to return our
tax cut "bonuses" (an average
of $4-5 monthly) directly to
human service agencies in our
own community For example
United Way payroll deductions
will allow the regular, personal
commitment of this sum to be
used by 54 local human service
providers, many of the same
agencies reduced in ability to
serve because of public budget
cuts
A personal commitment of
this kind would provide the
human services the community
requires and would do it without
the expensive overhead of the
bureaucratic middleman role
For the sake of those who truly
need these services, I hope
these personal commitments
are made by all those who feel
public budgets have been too
deeply cut
Jane Bigelow
Eugene
Alternative?
This letter is a response to the
article of Oct 7, "Right-wing
wave helps rebel with a cause ”
In this article, the Young Amer
icans for Freedom claim to
provide a political ‘ alternative"
for University students The
question is; an alternative to
what9
The YAF has sponsored ef
forts to “Save Our Canal" and
"Stop Salt II", as well as sup
porting the recent, massive U S
military build-up The YAF claim
to advance the cause of
freedom, as their name implies,
but their efforts make it clear
that it is only a doublespeak
When the YAF uses the term
freedom they are referring to
economic freedom In this
sense they are for freedom
freedom from social security
programs, unemployment ben
efits and minimum wage laws In
other words, the YAF is for
freedom of the old and poor to
do without food, for the unem
ployed to do without financial
support, while the economy fails
to provide |Obs and freedom of
the wage-earners to receive a
decent dignified wage for their
labor
The YAF claims, in their cele
brated "Sharon Statement."
that "when government inter
feres with the work of the market
economy, it tends to reduce the
moral and physical strength of
this nation " During the De
pression the moral and phy
sical strength of this nation was
at it lowest ebb and it was
government interference, in the
form of Roosvelt's New Deal,
that revived a crippled econ
omy
In truth the YAF is a pro-big
business, pro-military, conser
vative group that preaches con
flagration instead of peaceful
co-existence with other nations
The "Sharon Statement' dic
tates, "the forces of interna
tional communism are, at pre
sent the greatest single threat
that the US should stress
victory over, rather than coexis
tence with this menace
The menace is not commun
ism, but groups like the YAF,
who would just as soon provoke
a nuclear war with the Soviet
Union than seek a peaceful
means to the geo-political is
sues that confront both coun
tries
The YAF is a reactionary
group whose aim is to strength
en the grip of big business over
government at the expense of
the common weal What this
nation needs now is a real alter
native
Michael Solomita
University of Massachussetts
Political Economy Student
Inertia
I would like to blame some of
those in charge of publicity and
of coverage of the then upcom
ing event, in part, for the low
student turnout Speaking for
myself, by the time it was Sun
day noon and I had made up my
mind to go to the investiture I
became aware of not knowing
place or time Neither did I
remember it to be adequately
(i.e in keeping with the impor
tance of the event) announced
So I found it too cumbersome to
go to the university and dig up
last weeks issues of the Emerald
to find out, and decided to
spend the afternoon otherwise
Conclusion If you have to
work against people s inertia
don't give It a chance
Nikolaus von Bargen
Graduate, geology
Greed
Before you decide not to
bring up a family because of the
alleged "worldwide food shor
tage examine the situation
more carefully You might dis
cover that greed — not scarcity
— allows some to go hungry
Even if Americans stopped hav
ing kids altogether the situation
wouldn’t change at all1 Those
stressing limitation of family size
should attack the real problem
instead of pushing for elimina
tion of children
Many could be fed if land
presently wasted for non-food
items was converted for grow
ing beneficial produce Millions
of acres of the most fertile
regions in the south are used to
grow tobacco, which only helps
bring in money for farmers and
cigarette firms It does the aver
age person no good — only
harm
Let's not forget grain and
grapes used for alcoholic
beverages Millions of acres are
devoted to making the beer and
wine companies rich — the
media also profits through ad
vertising Results7 Thousands
of people die on our roads,
crime rates increase and
families are ruined due to this
product Beneficial? Food
shortages? Ha' Farmers plow
under tons and tons of food to
maintain high prices and profits
Government actually encour
ages this waste
How much food would be
available if Americans changed
their glutinous eating habits7
Our population is greatly over
weight, out-of-shape and
preoccupied with taking pills
and going to spas to lose fat
acquired through overeating
Society in general —
especially the rich elite
elements — is so selfish it would
rather encourage young cou
ples to abort their children —
rather than alter present prac
tices I for one urge people to
fight the real problems instead
of attacking the family
Ed Crockett
1011 Abbie Lane